Great for Simple Cell-Phone Needs
Written: Feb 19 '01
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Pros: Non-folding, lightweight
Cons: Call time does not automatically display
The Bottom Line: This phone has all the advanced features, but inexpensive enough for those of us with only simple needs.
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| TheAdvocate's Full Review: Kyocera QCP 2035a Cell Phone |
When I announced to my husband that I was planning to get a cell phone, he groaned. But I’d saved some money to purchase a phone and had already figured $20 a month for service into my household budget, so what could he say? At my local Car Toys, I signed up for Verizon wireless service and purchased a Kyocera QCP 2035a for $29.99 (I’ve seen the same phone retail for $49). [The Verizon plan, by the way, provides 75 minutes for $19.99, a much better deal than Sprint’s 20 minutes for the same price.]
The Kyocera phone stores up to 200 phone numbers, as well as addresses and email addys, features a vibrate option, 15 ringer sounds, and three service modes: CDMA digital PCS, CDMA digital cellular, and analog. Because battery power is used faster in analog mode, the phone beeps at me as I move in and out of digital service areas. I assume this beeping feature drains the battery faster, as well, but it is nice to be alerted.
At under five ounces, this phone is lightweight, fits comfortably in your hand, and doesn’t fold up. That’s handy if it rings while you’re driving - unfolding a phone in a superfluous extra step. Now, I don’t like to use a cell phone while driving, but sometimes it’s necessary to take a call on the road. For example, last month I took my son to the emergency room and on the trip down I was waiting for a call-back from my husband to let him know what hospital we were going to and what time we’d get there. If you find you need to take calls while driving (and you don’t own a hands-free system), make sure you use a non-folding phone, keep it within easy reach (don’t leave it in your purse), and practice using your cell phone buttons (especially the call answer button) without looking at the keypad.
If you’re like me and initially decided to purchase a Kyocera phone as a lifeline in emergencies, then don’t get sucked in by the fact that it offers web access. Minutes can accrue at an alarming rate when you’re checking email or checking a stock quote. The Kyocera also offers “productivity tools” like an alarm clock, calculator stopwatch, countdown timer, even a brick-attack game. But if battery life is important to you, I’d recommend sticking to the calculator in your checkbook and the watch on your wrist. I keep my phone on four to six hours a day, making 1-2 calls per week, and I find that I need to recharge the battery about once a week. In digital mode, the battery promises 3.5 hours of talk time.
The Kyocera QCP 2035a comes with a pearlescent-gold removable faceplate. For $19.99, you can purchase a separate faceplate in a wide variety of colors: marine blue, charcoal metal, millennium silver, sapphire blue, sangria red, emerald green, clear frost, ice blue, midnight blue, limon green, tangerine orange, magenta, platinum, iris lavender, or ruby red. I would think that if pearly-gold isn’t for you, probably one replacement faceplate should be satisfactory, but the Kyocera marketers respectfully disagree. Their website offers combination packs, such as the Wintry Duo (emerald green, sangria red) and Trio (sapphire blue, ruby red & platinum) faceplate sets. You can also purchase other accessories like a leather case [$19.99], a car power adapter [$24.99], a single-port desktop charger [$29.99], or a PC connectivity tool kit [$79.99].
My biggest complaint about the Kyocera is that, in order to check your total minutes of used-up call time, you must scroll through the menu to Settings, then down through five options until you reach Call Information. This is tedious and time-consuming – certainly not something you can check with a quick glance. If I were in charge of cell phone design, I’d have Call Information displayed at all times on the main screen. Of course, with Verizon, all calls are rounded up to the nearest minute, so the Call Information, accurate to the second, will be slightly lower than what you’re inevitably billed.
Otherwise, this phone has met my admittedly simple cell-phone needs. Voice clarity on my end has been the same or better than my mother’s standard digital phone provided by Voicestream. If you can find it for under $50, I’d feel comfortable recommending the Kyocera QCP 2035a.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 30
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Epinions.com ID:
TheAdvocate
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Reviews written: 53
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